Next Up: FC Halifax Town (H)

By Kenny_Crons October 27 2017

A look ahead to Rovers' match at home to FC Halfiax Town on Saturday afternoon....

When Mark Twain began using the quote 'lies, damned lies and statistics' I wonder if he had experienced a premonition of the media's sports coverage in the 21st century. It's more likely that he was seeing the beginning of politicians and statesmen using a certain set of facts to support their arguments, and decided to complain about it. But his point is well made and resonates loudly today as the modern fan has a voracious appetite for the data that supports his or her argument.

My day job is spent encouraging students to be more balanced and judicious in their use of facts and to be very careful with different interpretations of the same event. And if you apply this to recent traffic on Total Tranmere, it is almost a case in point.

I have seen a couple of views of our progress so far that totally contrast with each other. The first works out a points per game based on the whole season which offers a bleak assessment of our chances. But a second view plucks out the last 6 games to analyse and this gives a more positive outlook that suggests we will make the playoffs at least.

The conundrum is then, who to believe? Well, in traditional teacher 'no answer' style, I think the way forward is to take every view onboard and draw our own conclusions. And to be even more obtuse, here a few of my own statistics to muddy the waters!

Drawing from the excellent 'Tranmere Rovers - The Complete Record', our game against Halifax tomorrow is likely to result in a home win as the stats say we have lost less than a quarter of all meetings at Prenton Park. Interestingly, Halifax (along with Rochdale, Crewe, Stockport and Hartlepool) are one of our most frequently played opponents.

The second bit of statistical knowledge gleaned from 'The Complete Record' has more of a faintly damning feel to it though. In the Top Appearances section, 15 of the top 25 players in the list are names that come from our halcyon days of the late 80s and 90s (Mungall, Morrissey, Nixon, Higgins, Irons, Muir, Vickers, Mark Hughes, Roberts, Gary Jones, Thomas, Achterberg, Malkin, Brannan, Aldridge). My spin on this is that our success was clearly built on the fact that we did not rotate the team a lot and players were able to build up on field relationships because they got a run in the team. You might also say that all the players named above played in a basic 4-4-2 with wingers, a fair number of them were blooded as youngsters and there is some pace in that list too.

Mickey Mellon has a couple of wingers up his sleeve apparently so that suggests the manager may have read 'The Complete Record'. However, what makes me think he hasn't read it is that we don't keep the same team that often and, more worryingly, we change systems a lot. This is why teams coming to Prenton Park will always fancy their chances and Halifax won't be cowed by the recent cup defeat at The Shay a couple of weeks ago.

I think the last word needs to go to Samuel Langhorne Clemens as I think it sums up this season. When he said 'the secret of getting ahead is getting started' he must have been having a similar premonition problem to Mark Twain. Two very similar characters indeed! We need to properly get started tomorrow and get ahead early in the game.

That's not much of a secret is it?

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Next Up: FC Halifax Town (H)

Posted by: Total Tranmere (IP Logged)

Date: 27/10/2017 18:00

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Spot on again. Going for a win and hoping Cook plays of he intends to use the new wingers.The ex Fulham lad doesn't seem to have had a club for months.Still one of them plus DMH could do the trick. 2-0 Rovers

That's probably a good call Mini Andy but as this will likely be my last game I can go to this season I am going for a 3- 1 win again as frankly they are rubbish and we must convert a few chances in the league at some point.

Interested to see the team - and wonder if the new signings will make the bench?

ADDThat's probably a good call Mini Andy but as this will likely be my last game I can go to this season I am going for a 3- 1 win again as frankly they are rubbish and we must convert a few chances in the league at some point.
Interested to see the team - and wonder if the new signings will make the bench?

think you can get sky and bt in Walton jail these days so you might catch us on bt soon. Hope you don't get too long.

ADDThat's probably a good call Mini Andy but as this will likely be my last game I can go to this season I am going for a 3- 1 win again as frankly they are rubbish and we must convert a few chances in the league at some point.
Interested to see the team - and wonder if the new signings will make the bench?

think you can get sky and bt in Walton jail these days so you might catch us on bt soon. Hope you don't get too long.

Even in our current situation we should win this one. If we do not then one is left wondering how bad must things get before the manager pays the price of a hugely disappointing season.
We are stuck in our lowest position for 98 years. Pretty grim

So so much better today!
Was surprised to see that McDonagh was starting but he had a great game. Why he can't head the ball is beyond me as he is very strong on the ground but he put in a massive shift, with lots of good touches and could well have shaded DMH for MOM in my book but then I suppose he didn't score. Looked like to me he had a cast iron penalty shout turned down mind you.
Norwood was at his best whilst on with 2 good goals and of course an absolute sitter of a miss.
DMH played great today - definitely his best performance for us. Total commitment and great energy - now seems fully up to speed and match fit.
Cole was clearly not match fit which is to be expected but he looked to have great touch, linked up well with McDonagh and will surely improve and be an asset if he keeps this up.
Duggan I also felt had a great game and against a very lively number 7 Kosylo who was quick and kept going for the full 90 minutes. Interesting decision for MM but if I was Duggan I would expect to keep my place this time when Buxton returns.
Ok then the negatives before I get carried away with things! We conceded 2 poor goals with slack marking and Halifax really are a very poor side. That said great result today however you cut it.

Doubt if we could sign dmh Barnsley got for the future.bet lots of us where gobsmacked when mm pick Mcdonagh before cook.I was and wonder did wirral radio say same .he played very well and it was a stonewall penno against him.

Cook had a massive fit when cole replaced norwood , he punched the corner flag and was moaning to himself. The supporters in the paddock were shouting he should be on and he was turning round and nodding in agreement

I'm sorry but Cook hasn't shown any reason he should be in the team every week. It doesn't matter what he did last season, this season he's been very poor but some fans ignore that and call Micky clueless (or words to that effect) when he benches him. The movement in and around the box today with McDonough up top was better than tuesday at Hartlepool with Cook up front (not that we played particularly bad against Pools, I actually think we were the better side). It seems clear to me from his lack of effort when he plays that he no longer wants to be at the club so I think it's time for him to move on. We've replaced much better strikers than Cook and will again.

Cook did for himself when he had an on pitch Barney with the penalty taker and missed it. Higgy commented on Wirral radio that there will be reasons why Cook isn't starting Cook. Ultimatley Micky was vindicated today, we scored 4 goals, he played Tuesday we scored 1 goals. Whilst Cook does score a few his goal ratio isn't above and beyond and Norwood, Cole and McDonught offered much much more in all the other aspects of their game in respects of giving the defence something to think about about, we looked really dangerous with McDonught and Norwood up top and Cole found those little pockets of space which makes defenders think, We haven't had anyone here since Ryan Lowe to do that, if he continues to improve we don't want to mess around on extending the contract.

hong kong roverwow bloody hell we are scoring some goals, sounds like we are playing well but on the other hand Halifax sound shite

Their defence wasn't too good but give them some credit,they had a real dart at us during the second half and looked quite decent going forward-their star player was their little number 7 Kosylo who gave Duggan a very hard 45 minutes. He was obviously specifically moved there after half time as he didn't play there in the first half. The guy on the other wing was lightning fast too. It was by some way the most entertaining game I've seen this season-the score could have been anything.

DMH's goal was a joy to behold.Charged down the full backs clearance on the half way line-and sped quickly towards their goal.Never a thought of passing,eyes on the advancing keeper,slipped it expertly past him into the net. Never a chance he was going to miss. Superb.

Hoots MonDMH's goal was a joy to behold.Charged down the full backs clearance on the half way line-and sped quickly towards their goal.Never a thought of passing,eyes on the advancing keeper,slipped it expertly past him into the net. Never a chance he was going to miss. Superb.
The moment of the match

will look forward to seeing the goals on you tube in the next day or two, hoots

Good result from playing attacking football at pace - i.e. what many of us have been calling for all season. Hopefully, with the new players, we won't return to the boring, negative style which has failed us up to now. The way results have been going, it is still possible (though it wouldn't have been in other seasons) to recover from our start and aim to be champions, the only guaranteed way out of this league.

A great result, but I'm sure Mellon will pick them up on the concessions, but despite Norwood getting a head injury Cole comes on and scores on debut and Motley Henry gets 1 so Mellon's recruitment choices are starting to look a bit more healthy, in terms of the reputation they're giving him, as he's been largely getting stick for recruitment and it's understandable some might have felt inclined to do that in the last few weeks.

Hopefull in 2 weeks Green may feature and make an impact perhaps, but a great result and it's another step in the right direction. The gap to the top is only 9 now and 4 to the playoffs and it's now 10 points from the last 6 games, which isn't too bad especially compared to what happened in the first 6 games

Then I ate his Liver.......... with some baked beans and a can of coke.

have just viewed the 8 min highlights of the Halifax game on you tube. I could only see 8 mins but we seemed to play some decent stuff. nice build up play to norwoods first goal and great run n goal from DMH, reminiscent of Michael owen, burst of energy , quick into the box and great finish.

Funny old game. Looked like we were going to score at will whilst Norwood was on the field. After that it went a bit flat. The Cole goal was key, and DMH's finish the icing on the cake. Great to see 4 goals but we have played better and lost.

roger mellieFunny old game. Looked like we were going to score at will whilst Norwood was on the field. After that it went a bit flat. The Cole goal was key, and DMH's finish the icing on the cake. Great to see 4 goals but we have played better and lost.

roger mellieFunny old game. Looked like we were going to score at will whilst Norwood was on the field.

Interestingly though, having looked at those highlights and seeing one of Norwood's goals again, I noticed that I think after the second one he leaned over towards a Halifax player who was lying on the ground and then grimaced and fist pumped in his face, which I felt was a tad unprofessional, considering it looked like their player was suffering brief moment or two of pain.

Then I ate his Liver.......... with some baked beans and a can of coke.

roger mellieFunny old game. Looked like we were going to score at will whilst Norwood was on the field.

Interestingly though, having looked at those highlights and seeing one of Norwood's goals again, I noticed that I think after the second one he leaned over towards a Halifax player who was lying on the ground and then grimaced and fist pumped in his face, which I felt was a tad unprofessional, considering it looked like their player was suffering brief moment or two of pain.

I had to read that twice as I thought you said he pumped (farted) in his face lmao!

Norwood's reaction might have been a consequence of a cynical foul on him a little earlier. There were also a few verbals taking place so his celebration could well have been a release of frustration built up from this. I think they were relieved to see Norwood go off as he was creating havoc.

Phil65Norwood's reaction might have been a consequence of a cynical foul on him a little earlier. There were also a few verbals taking place so his celebration could well have been a release of frustration built up from this. I think they were relived to see Norwood go off as he was creating havoc.

Didn't the Halifax captain say after the cup tie that Tranmere were ''nothing special'' or words to that effect? Maybe Norwood was querying those remarks.

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